There's a sign on the highway and a plaque at the Rim of the World overlook, naming this section of 120 the "Eva Marie Schicke memorial highway".
This video describes the 2004 accident where she died - the location was close to where the current fire is.

Did this fire start yesterday afternoon. I thought I saw a distinct column of smoke driving out north of town around 2:00 or so. Then I wwnt to where I could take a shot of it and the T clouds swallowed it and I could not see it again.

My eyes may have played tricks with me, but I know a smoke column when I see it.

Bump since I would have been home a couple of hours earlier tonight had I known. Didn't find out until the Tioga Pass gate, no warnings, nothing on the radio, nada. I opted for SPH 108, it was looking pretty smokey to the south.

October 5, 1988: "Patsy Hamm will always remember the day the Smith Peak Forest Lookout burned to the ground.
The lookout burned Aug. 31, 1987, in the Stanislaus Complex Fires that destroyed 147,095 acres in Tuolumne and Mariposa counties. A wood frame building atop a metal two-story tower, the lookout burned within a couple hours of when Hamm abandoned it about 1 p.m.
Now, rising like a Phoenix out of the ashes, the lookout has been rebuilt and is nearly ready for use again in the Groveland Ranger District of the Stanislaus National Forest." (Merced Sun-Star)

This is the fire I remember. Jeff was photographed as a long-haired evacuee on the porch of the Buck Meadows store and it was published in the local firestarter.

Credit: mouse from merced

Smith Peak:Groveland Ranger District, 3,877' elevation.y 1910, Smith Peak, two miles from the Groveland Ranger Station, was used as a fire lookout. Smith Peak was selected as an administrative site in 1931, and soon after a wooden lookout tower was built. In 1952, a metal lookout tower was constructed, along with a garage. The tower burned down in the 1987 Stanislaus Complex Fire, and was replaced in 1988. Smith Peak is used every summer as one of the two staffed fire lookouts on the Groveland District. Photo: 1943.

Then there was the complex fire which came down to the back doors of El Portal in the next few years.

Hey khanom - check out the map I linked above. It's kept fairly up to date. The perimeter is still east of Ferretti, but it's getting close, looks like a few hotspots are heating up. Current screenshot:

Missing photo ID#317005

The ranger station complex and town of Buck Meadows are hanging on the edge. Wishing you the best of luck.